April Camp, March Missions and more!

Since our return from the US we have been busy non-stop!

In March and April we conducted In-School Missions, community outreach Missions and participated in two church Missions...plus held the Students Discipleship Camp!

April Discipleship Camp

What do Darwin’s Theory, sanctification, computers and 1 Peter 2:19 have in common? These were just a few of the topics discussed during our recent Discipleship Camp. For seven days we hosted students from 22 different area schools for a week filled with Bible teachings, practical learning, and awesome Praise & Worship!

Much thanks to our US partners for making this the 4^th year that our ministry, The Christian Mission to Learners (CML) has been able to host tri-annual Discipleship Camps. The Camps provide one-on-one evangelism, Discipleship training and fun for rural area youth. Aprils theme, taken from 1 Peter 1:16, was “Be Holy as I am Holy” and focused on helping youth understand their positional holiness in Christ and how through the power of the Holy Spirit they can lead a “holy” life that is pleasing to God.

With increased exposure to Western culture and outside influences through electronic and print media, the youth here are facing new and challenging moral dilemmas. Already dealing with extreme poverty, 60% unemployment, high drop out rates, gender inequality, forced early marriage for girls, and HIV/AIDS... the pressure on teenagers is intense. We thank God however for how we have seen the youth draw closer to Him through discipleship.

Testifying to the power of Christ in their lives, we were especially grateful to have Elishah, Fred, Kassim, Wycliffe and Seth, all participants' of previous Discipleship Camps, attend the April Camp as volunteer teachers. Having graduated High School, these young men have gone on to find gainful employment or to enroll in collage. Most important, they shared with students how their relationship with Christ has helped them find purpose in life and make wise choices.

Please be in prayer for the young people of Kenya and for our next youth event, which will be held in conjunction with Clarence Matheny Ministries from August 9th to 13th. We will be taking 50 students to Nairobi to join with youth from across East Africa for 5 days of ministry. If you would like to sponsor a student for this event please let us know. Cost per student for transportation, food and accommodation is $35.00.

MISSIONS

KENDU BAY: Our May Mission to this beautiful lakeside community gave us an opportunity to make new friends and teach at the New Apostolic Church. An added bonus was visiting the home of CML volunteer and former scholarship recipient, Elisha Otewa.

MACHAKOS: I (Denise) was so excited to join the US “Heart for Him” mission team for this Mission as they lead the Lower Eastern Region Baptist Women’s Conference in Machakos. Kenya! For 3 days we shared God’s word with over 250 women. encouraging them to deepen their love for the Lord, their families and each other. And thanks to the Heart for Him Team, we were also able to give each lady that attended a Bible!

KAKWARA BAPTIST CHURCH:

William took a group of students and church members to join our friends at Kakwara for a Mission ministering the people in the Chemgewadu area.

KITERE PRIMARY SCHOOL:

Along with parents, teachers, students and community stakeholders we celebrated the staff & student body accomplishments during Education Day!

KANGA RALLEY & IN-SCHOOL MISSIONS: As guest speakers at the Kanga Boys weekend evangelism rally, we were able to share a message about “Transformation through Trials” with student’s from several schools and present the Kanga Christian Union with Bible Study materials. Best of all, hundreds of young people came forward during the course of the weekend, giving their lives to Christ and receiving prayer. We also continue doing regular “In-school” missions and have recently visited Ulanda Girls, DeDe Girls and Sigiria High School. In addition, I (Denise) am teaching a weekly Bible Study at St. Cecilia’s Primary School.

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your Word.””

Psalm 119:9

We're Back!

After a wonderful visit with family & Partners in the US, we have returned home. Thanks to everyone for the many prayers.... our journey was a blessed one indeed!
We have our first Mission to St. Albert's Ulanda Girls High School this coming Saturday, followed by a Leadership Conference in Nairobi the end of March.
April will be a busy month as we get back into full swing with our Discipleship Camp scheduled 4/27/10 through 5/2/10, some outreach Missions, the arrival of the books & Bibles for the CML Library and of course hosting lots of students during the school break!
We look forward to all the Lord has planned for the CML Ministry this year!

Books for the CML Library

The vision of the CML Library is finally becoming a reality! Several hundred books, including 216 Bibles, are currently on their way to Kenya and are expected to arrive some time in March.

The library is just a small part of the CML Resource Center vision, whose goal is to provide a multi-purpose resource facility for students, youth, pastors and the local people in the Kitere community. Until we have sufficient financial means for building the Resource Center, the library will be operated from the Glory Community Church compound (next to our house) in Kitere Village of Rongo District.

The books that were donated are varied in nature; ranging from Christian materials such as Bible Study guides, Discipleship materials and Bibles, to educational textbooks and classical literature .

While English is spoken and read by a considerable percentage of the people, especially the youth, there are no libraries in the community and the school libraries are mere empty halls without books. In addition, most families in this area survive as subsistence farmers and as such cannot afford to buy books. The students and pastors are eager to read and study the Word and we believe these books & Bibles will serve as a great resource to facilitate our Discipleship ministry in this area.

We thank God for all those that donated books and helped make the shipment possible. In addition to the many books he sent last year, Rev. John Maurice Quillen from Talbott again contributed several boxes of Christian books from his private library. Rev. John Thompson from Dandridge, donated 216 Bibles for the Students ministry and Mr. & Mrs. Jeff Fox gave several boxes of literary books. Other donations were received from Rocky Point Baptist Church and Marty & Lana Luttrell. We also thank Rocky Point Baptist Church for helping facilitate the shipping of the books from Tennessee to Texas where they were loaded onto the container.

Most importantly, we thank Ronnie & Debbie Matheny for graciously allowing us to ship the books in their container. The Mathenys are missionaries from Texas and are leaders of the Clarence Matheny Ministries with a Leadership and Conference Facility in Nairobi, Kenya. You may recognize their names from our post last year when we attended a Marriage Conference and Youth Conference at the Clarence Matheny Ministries. Thanks Ronnie & Debbie!

We are also very grateful to David & Janene Waldrop, Missionaries in Kenya from Dandridge, TN for connecting us with the Mathenys. The Waldrops have become such dear friends and are from Denise’s former hometown in Tennessee (how interesting that they met for the 1st time in Nairobi, Kenya!).

To many others that we have not mentioned here, but have contributed in other ways towards the CML Library, we thank you. God certainly uses partnerships in divine connections to get His work accomplished!

We look forward to returning home soon to oversee the building of book shelves and setting up of the Library, and continue to be expectant as God provides for His work.

What is still needed to complete this task:

1. $2,100 to complete the work at the temporary CML Resource Center- partitioning, beds & bedding, chairs, desks, bookshelves and the toilet

2. Help with sorting the books and setting up a Library System. We invite volunteers to come on short-term mission trips to assist.

Your partnership is vital and appreciated. Together, we can make it happen for God’s glory.

Blessings!

Update on our US visit

Hard to believe we have been here 4 months already! With the hustle and bustle surrounding the Holidays and a busy schedule, the time just seems to be flying by.

Our days continue to be filled with visiting ministry partners, speaking at schools, fundraising and attending various events. And while we are seriously missing our family & friends in Kenya, we are also enjoying our time here and believe that God has a purpose for all that we are doing.

Below is a brief update of what's been going on the past few months.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by family & friends at the airport and later given a wonderful reception by our sister Sharon at Rocky Point Baptist Church.

William's first visit to the US consist of a number of "1st time experiences". From riding a roller-coaster, to boating on the lake, seeing snow, experiencing Halloween, decorating a Christmas tree, playing basketball, eating REAL pizza, seeing the Smoky Mountains and more....... the list goes on and on!

In October, we spent 5 days in Tupleo, MS with Global Outreach International attending the "Missionary Orientation and Training” (MOT). In addition to reviewing policies and procedure changes, we participated in exciting and informative teaching sessions that were both encouraging and educational regarding issues that can affect the longevity of our time in the mission filed. Issues like spiritual warfare, moral purity, culture stress, maintaining intimacy with God, setting personal & ministry priorities, establishing budgets and managing finances.

We have been invited to speak at several local schools since our arrival and have been so excited to share facts about Kenya and our ministry with American students. Below, William is talking to 6th graders at Lincoln Middle School. We have also addressed student's at Whitesburg Elementary, Jefferson County High School and Meadowview Middle.

In November we attended the "Hearts on Fire" Youth Conference with the youth from Rocky Point Baptist Church. What a blessing to spend 3 days in Gatlinburg with such a great group of energetic and enthusiastic youth!

The weekend of January 22nd - 24th we were again blessed when invited to attend the Resurrection 2010 Youth Retreat along with the youth of Dandridge First United Methodist Church. A special treat during the Retreat,was being able to spend a few minutes with Pastor Hugh Kilgore and his wife Susette. Hugh was one of the founders of the Resurrection Youth Ministry and my Pastor years ago. It was under his leadership that I surrendered my life to Christ and I am eternally grateful to him and his family for modeling Christ's unconditional love!

There is much more to report and I will continue to update this post with events and pictures as the Internet will allow.

Blessings,

Denise

Counting our blessings......

Reflecting over the past several months, we can't help but acknowledge our many blessings and thank the Lord for how He has been changing young lives from the inside out!

Ministering to young people is inspiring, challenging, fulfilling, amazing, exhausting and above all rewarding, but we are never alone as we teach, disciple, mentor and minister. First and foremost we have the Holy Spirit...and 2ndly we've had the help, prayers and encouragement of our friends.

Below are but a few of the many blessings we have received and shared........

Happy student s with their new backpacks sent by the Morristown, TN Rotary Club. In addition to backpacks, there were children's books and numerous school supplies!

In partnership with Clarence Matheny Ministries and our good friend David Waldrop, we kicked off the School of Leadership Development Program in July to equip local church pastors and leaders.

Pastor Christopher, of Glory Community Assembly, received a Concordance and CML received several boxes of books for our upcoming library from retired Rev. Maurice Quillen.

Richard Angevine, a representative of SoccerGrow (one of our corporate partners), visited students that have been impacted by the CML Sports Evangelism program. In addition to handing out soccer balls, he encouraged the youth to continue developing their skills and talents on and off the field.

In August, CML organized a house building project for a single mom in a nearby community. Thanks to the hard work and efforts of several students and community members the house was completed in 2 days and Tabitha, Joab, June and Vincent now have a home!

CML was greatly blessed by the visit of Jennifer Kisabeth, Darcy Edwards and Valerie Wilkins. Besides spending time encouraging young people in the Kitere community and ministering at local schools, they were real troopers when it came to the day-to-day chores like carrying water and doing clean up!

In August we attended the "Count Me In Teen Camp" with 30 of the CML students held at Clarence Matheny Ministries in Nairobi. We all had a great time with over 600 youths in attendance for the event. The week had a perfect mix of praise & worship, teachings and outdoor activities, and we are so grateful to all the folks from Convergence Church in TX that made the event possible!

We thank our many friends for joining with us as we continue providing an environment for transformation, encouraging the spiritual growth and leadership development of these young people!